Sunday, July 27, 2014

"ISPs might start to block encrypted traffic in order to maintain their business model. For example, if carriers can discriminate among applications, they can make some exempt from a user's data consumption cap. AT&T has already announced plans for such a service, called Sponsored Data, on its cellular data network. Among other things, this could allow content providers to cover the cost of delivering their data to consumers, making their content more attractive.

That concept may get more complicated if encryption comes into play, Meinrath said.

For example, in some developing countries, Facebook and mobile operators together are offering cheap mobile data deals that only cover Facebook. There are encrypted services that can tunnel through Facebook to give users access to other service, but carriers will want to know if anyone is circumventing the exclusive Facebook deal.

"The problem is that providers are going to say, 'We need to be able to know that you're not doing that, therefore we need to be able to ensure that you are not encrypting,'" he said." 'via Blog this'

Net Neutrality Kabuki Theater: How Cable Companies Dominate the Debate | VICE United States: "In May, Comcast filed a letter to the FCC explicitly opposing the effort to reclassify broadband services under Title II regulations. And for years, Comcast has battled net neutrality. But the feel-good ad, which builds on a Comcast marketing campaign that began in April, creates a blanket deception to hoodwink viewers about both the merger and the company’s position on the open Internet.

So on paper, the FCC is supposed to protect the interests of consumers and the general public. But the ISP lobby has transformed the entire net neutrality process into a kabuki theater of sorts, one in which the stage of policymaking appears to be open and honest, but all the main actors are playing from a familiar, industry-written script." 'via Blog this'

Understanding the Net Neutrality Debate: A Basic Legal Primer | Bloomberg BNA: "Three recent cases from the D.C. Circuit--Comcast v. FCC,Cellco Partnership v. FCC and Verizon v. FCC-shed light on the current state of the law. These cases hold that the FCC has ample authority over BSPs going forward under the current legal regime and, as such, reclassification of broadband Internet access as a Title II common carrier telecommunications service is unwarranted." 'via Blog this'

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Regular readers will have noticed that since the EC vote on 3 April, there has been a 500% increase in the audience. The main source is Vietnam (.vn), but also various other developing countries: Egypt, Colombia, Uganda. Welcome newbies, enjoy the ride.
What I had not thought hard about was just how Windows-dominated these readers would be - the 2013 audience was only minority IExplorer and in fact Firefox had become browser of choice, and Windows was under 75%. How it has changed. You are now massively dominated by Microsoft, 95% on OS and 76% IExplorer. Get Firefox people! Or ask your sysadmins nicely if you are all on university/school PCs.

From Ars Technica: "Verizon last week blamed Netflix for the problem,
saying that the video company is sending traffic over congested links.
That's true, but it's not the whole story. Netflix agreed to pay Verizon
for a direct connection to the ISP's network on April 28, but Verizon hasn't been able to set up enough links yet. Verizon has said the connections will start rolling out incrementally this month and should be completely installed by the end of 2014.

Netflix performance is also getting worse on AT&T, though that's
less of a surprise since Netflix has not yet agreed to pay AT&T for a
direct connection. AT&T U-verse performance dropped from 1.7Mbps in
May to 1.5Mbps in June, while AT&T DSL performance dropped from
1.26Mbps in May to 1.13Mbps in June. Netflix performance on Comcast dropped a bit too, from 2.72Mbps to
2.61Mbps, but it remains far better than on Verizon or AT&T.
Cablevision, which agreed to give Netflix free connections to its
network, leads major ISPs in the US with a rating of 3.03Mbps. The US
average across all ISPs is 2.18Mbps."

On the risk of a challenge to the legislation, Salmon points out that the government may well be calculating that the time it would take for any legal challenge to be brought against DRIP would take longer than the lifespan of the bill itself.

“I guess the government probably are thinking well ultimately if it goes to court, then it would potentially get another referral to the ECJ which, as you know, is not exactly a swift process,” he added. “They’re going to get another two years.”" 'via Blog this'

Academics protest emergency surveillance bill (Wired UK): "Chris Marsden, a signatory and professor of law at the University of Sussex, said there were fundamental problems with the scope of the bill. It may even prove incompatible with European legislation on human rights and privacy.

"Blanket data retention in itself is quite likely to be against the law," he explained, adding, "I think it's unjustified to do this without a proper parliamentary debate, not just an emergency debate. It's pretty shocking."" 'via Blog this'

Monday, July 14, 2014

Carlos Slim's empire broken up but oligarchs still control Mexico: "The [Ley telecom] reforms do not threaten to disrupt the profits of Latin America’s telecommunications giants; quite the contrary, now they will no longer be confined to dominating one sector of the market. In such a context, smaller competitors will find it hard to enter and establish themselves in the market, given that telecoms giants will extend their share.

Investors seem to agree with this analysis: América Móvil shares jumped 10% when news of the “breakup” was announced, and Forbes reports Slim is poised to retake his “world’s richest” title from Bill Gates, after gaining US$4 billion this month alone." 'via Blog this'

Saturday, July 12, 2014

"WIRED: One revelation in your book that didn’t get much play was the issue of U.S. telecoms partnering with foreign telecoms to upgrade their networks and in the process help the NSA subvert those networks by redirecting the target country’s communications to NSA repositories. That to me was one of the more shocking allegations because you weren’t just talking about phone companies providing access to their own networks and their own customers but serving as pseudo-contractors and agents of the NSA to help them spy on foreign infrastructure. Why didn’t that get more attention?

GG: You know, it’s funny because it was a huge issue here in Brazil, before I wrote the book, because the first story we did in Brazil was about the collection of 2 million metadata events and so the question was how was the NSA getting that? The Senate was interested in that…The reason it never took off is because the one thing the NSA holds really close is the identity of their partners. I have a very good idea of who these companies are based on circumstantial evidence, but no one would ever let me say it. But without that, how do you make it stick? The Brazilian government was desperate to know, because they wanted to kick that company out." 'via Blog this'

Cold water on Europe’s digital dream | Mario Mariniello at Bruegel.org: "From the perspective of operators, clearly a merger is more profitable. That should not concern the Commission; the Commission should just be concerned with finding the best way to incentivize investment while protecting users from price increases. With the Telefonica/E-Plus decision, the Commission is instead effectively encouraging all network operators in Europe to merge instead of entering into network sharing agreements, meaning less competition with no increased investment incentive." 'via Blog this'

Continuations : Debating Disruption: Mind the Non-linear: "The Lindy Effect is real. Disruption is rare. But it does exist and it is caused by non-linear changes in technology. We happen to be in a period of such non-linear change because we have figured out how to use computers for lots and lots of things, including machine learning and robotics, DNA analysis and synthesis, scanning and additive manufacturing of objects. As a result the exponential improvements in computers powered by Moore’s and Metcalfe’s ”laws” are invading many other industries. " 'via Blog this'

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

The FCC and Net Neutrality: A Way Forward | Electronic Frontier Foundation: "That 2002 decision, as interpreted by the D.C. Circuit last January, now actually prevents the FCC from truly promoting a neutral Internet. That is because the court said that rules that actually do what many of us want—such as forbidding discrimination against certain applications—require the FCC to treat access providers like “common carriers, ” treatment that can only be applied to telecommunications services.

Having chosen to define broadband as an “information service,” the FCC can impose regulations that “promote competition” (good) but it cannot stop providers from giving their friends special access to Internet users (bad). The result: a set of proposed rules that implicitly endorses paid prioritization and special deals that may not be available to new businesses at any price.

Some have said that reclassification would give the FCC too much power to regulate the Internet. That very concern is why forbearance is so important. " 'via Blog this'

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

House of Commons Hansard Debates for 16 Jun 2014 (pt 0003): "The UK is fully committed to an open internet and it believes that a self-regulatory approach can and does deliver this for consumers, as long as ISPs are transparent about traffic management practices that they employ, and consumers are aware of those at the point of sale.

I agree with the hon. Gentleman that traffic management should not develop into anti-competitive behaviour, as he has highlighted. We will be working with the European Parliament, the Commission and other member states to deliver a package that ensures an open, safe and secure internet. However, we do not support proposals that mean we cannot enforce our laws, including blocking child abuse images, and we are committed to protecting our children online. That includes ensuring that child abuse images can be and are blocked, as well as giving parents the choice to implement domestic filters for age appropriate content.

We continue to believe that regulation as proposed by the European Commission is unhelpful as it is too prescriptive and inflexible. Indeed, regulation may be unable to keep up with the pace of change of technology and may even have unintended consequences, such as higher consumer bills. I will ensure that the responsible Minister is made aware of the strong feeling across the House in this debate and the fact that Members on both sides spoke in support of this." 'via Blog this'